Author: Harut Sassounian

Armenia Could have Gotten a Better Deal In the Prisoner Exchange with Azerbaijan

Thirty two Armenian prisoners of war, languishing in a Baku jail for a long time, were finally freed and returned back to their overjoyed families. I will analyze the background and circumstances of their release, pointing out why Armenia should have gotten a much better deal.

1) The agreement to end the 2020 war, signed by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, included a clause that mandated that “an exchange of prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons and bodies of the dead is to be carried out.” Pashinyan’s blunder was that no deadline was set for the implementation of this clause, thus allowing Azerbaijan to keep the Armenian prisoners as long as it wished.

2) Pashinyan’s second mistake was that, shortly after the end of the 2020 war, Armenia released all the Azeri prisoners, while Azerbaijan released only some of the Armenian prisoners. There was no all for all exchange.

3) Even though the 2020 agreement did not impose any preconditions for the release of the Armenian and Azeri prisoners, Pashinyan made his third mistake by turning over to Azerbaijan the maps of Armenian landmines in Azeri-occupied Artsakh in return for the release by Azerbaijan of a few more Armenian prisoners. Pres. Aliyev learned the valuable lesson that he can extract more concessions from Armenia by the slow and gradual release of the Armenian prisoners. In other words, Aliyev discovered that the Armenian prisoners were more valuable for him if he kept them in a Baku jail, and released a few at a time in return for further concessions from Armenia.

4) Pashinyan’s obsession over an unnecessary ‘Peace Treaty’ with Azerbaijan provides yet another opportunity for Aliyev to extract further concessions from Armenia, including the demand for additional Armenian territories during border adjustment negotiations, the return of Azeris to their previously inhabited villages inside Armenia, and acceptance of the so-called ‘Zangezur Corridor’ linking Eastern Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhichevan instead of a road under Armenia’s control, as mentioned in the 2020 agreement.

5) Pashinyan should have refused all meetings and negotiations with Azerbaijan until the removal of its forces from the territory it occupies inside Armenia and the return of all Armenian prisoners of war.

6) Azerbaijan agreed to exchange two Azeri soldiers with 32 Armenian prisoners of war because Armenia withdrew its own candidacy and lifted its veto of Azerbaijan hosting next year’s prestigious international climate change conference (COP29) in Baku. This is the only reason why Aliyev agreed to have such a lop-sided exchange of prisoners. None of the other publicly mentioned reasons are true. Contrary to baseless speculations, the U.S., EU, NATO, Russia, Turkey, and Iran played no role in arranging this prisoner exchange. It was Aliyev’s strong desire to use the conference as a means to show off Baku as an internationally significant capital in order to deflect attention away from Azerbaijan’s serious human rights violations and war crimes. Aliyev had gone to great lengths to host other major events in Baku, such as the Formula One Car Race, the Non-Aligned Conference Summit, Eurovision, European Games, etc.

7) Given Aliyev’s fixation on hosting the Climate Summit in Baku at any cost, Armenia should have sought the release of all Armenian prisoners of war, not just 32 of them. In addition, Pashinyan should have demanded the release of the high-ranking Artsakh officials who were captured and jailed by Azerbaijan at the end of September 2023.

8) In the meantime, over 100,000 exiled Artsakh Armenians are suffering in Armenia, deprived of the most basic necessities, such as housing, food, and medicines. Artsakh Armenians have left behind all of their possessions. The Armenian government should file a lawsuit in the World Court demanding that Azerbaijan pay compensation for the confiscated properties of Artsakh Armenians.

9) The above cited issues raise serious questions about the high praise lavished on Pashinyan by his supporters who are proud that he scored a major success with the release of 32 Armenian prisoners. Little do they know that a more competent Armenian leader could have gotten much more concessions from Azerbaijan than the return of some of the Armenian prisoners.

10) Pashinyan’s supporters are also ecstatic that various international leaders expressed their satisfaction with the exchange of the prisoners, hoping that this would lead the two countries to signing a ‘Peace Treaty.’ What Pashinyan’s supporters do not understand is that a ‘Peace Treaty’ would not actually bring peace to the two countries, since Aliyev has already violated most of the terms of the 2020 agreement. What assurance can anyone have that he will respect future agreements? These foreign powers care about only one thing: their self-interest rather than the national interests of Armenia. They are pleased that Pashinyan is making repeated concessions to Azerbaijan, so that the international community can benefit from Azerbaijan’s oil and gas, while ignoring Armenian interests and turning a blind eye to Aliyev’s violations of the human rights of his own people.

December 18, 2023
Armenian Government Adds Unnecessary Burdens on Already Suffering Artsakhtsis

As if the problems of displaced Artsakh Armenians were not bad enough, given their forced departure from their native land and the subsequent hardships faced by lack of housing, food, medicines and other essential items after their arrival in Armenia, the government is now creating more unnecessary difficulties for them.

Artsakh Armenians, who have been citizens of Armenia for a long time, are suddenly told by the Armenian government that they are not citizens of Armenia, even though they possess passports issued by the Republic of Armenia. Many Artsakh Armenians have used their Armenian passports for years to travel to foreign countries without any problems, which means that the authorities in Armenia and other countries accepted their passports as genuine Armenian passports. How is it possible that Artsakhtsis were citizens of Armenia while living in Artsakh, but not after they arrived in Armenia?

To make matters more confusing, the government of Armenia is now telling Artsakh Armenians that since they are not citizens of Armenia, they may apply for Armenian citizenship in the future. This is complete nonsense. How can a citizen of Armenia apply a second time for citizenship? If I, as a US citizen, apply for US citizenship for the second time, American government officials will treat me as a fool and show me the door.

I believe that the Armenian government, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has a hidden agenda in treating Artsakh Armenians as non-citizens. He wants to make sure that during future elections in Armenia, Artsakh Armenians will be unable to vote, knowing that many of them will not vote for his political party’s candidates, since Pashinyan is the one who handed Artsakh to Azerbaijan. We now have the additional evidence that the country’s leader is not only incompetent, but also violates the country’s laws for political gain. This is confirmed by the Interior Ministry’s declaration: “A person with refugee status does not have the right to vote and be elected in national elections.”

Last week, the Republic of Armenia’s Ministry of Interior issued a statement in the format of “answers to frequently asked questions by forcibly displaced citizens of the Republic of Artsakh.” In this first sentence, there is already an error. Artsakh Armenians are citizens of Armenia, not citizens of Artsakh or Azerbaijan.

The Ministry tried to entice Artsakh Armenians to accept their refugee status, telling them that those who have the status of a refugee have no obligation to serve in the armed forces of Armenia. In other words, Artsakh Armenians, who must serve in Armenia’s armed forces as citizens of Armenia, are wrongly exempted from military service, in violation of Armenian law.

The Ministry also stated that as refugees, Artsakh Armenians have no right to own agricultural land. This provision deprives them of the ability to grow food on their own plot of land, since they do not have the necessary funds to purchase food.

The Ministry then stated that refugees cannot travel to a foreign country. This is also false, as Artsakh Armenians with their Armenian passports can travel to any country after obtaining a visa, if one is required. Some countries like Russia do not require a visa from Armenian citizens. Thousands of Artsakh Armenians have already left Armenia simply by showing their Armenian passports which means that both Armenia and other countries have recognized their passports as legitimate documents.

The Ministry then contradicted itself by stating that “should a refugee’s passport expire, it can be renewed by presenting two photos and the expired passport.” How can Artsakh Armenians renew their passports in Armenia, if they are not Armenian citizens and do not hold Armenian passports?

In a further contradiction, the Ministry stated that those Artsakh Armenians who become Armenian citizens do not lose their ability to benefit from social assistance programs for refugees. The only requirement is that they be classified as ‘displaced.’ If they do not jeopardize their right to receive assistance after becoming citizens of Armenia, why are they classified as refugees and not recognized as citizens?

Incredibly, after giving away Artsakh and repressing the rights of Artsakh Armenians to pursue any political activity in Armenia on behalf of Artsakh, the Ministry of Interior stated that their losses of property in Artsakh “does not disappear or cease to exist as a result of a change in a person’s legal status,” meaning acquiring citizenship of Armenia. It remains to be seen if the Armenian government, beyond mere words, will be willing to file lawsuits in international courts to defend the property rights of Artsakh Armenians.

Artsakh Armenians, who are citizens of Armenia, have suffered more than enough. They should not be burdened with such unnecessary bureaucratic nonsense.

December 8, 2023
Azerbaijan Plans Takeover of Armenia To Create ‘Western Azerbaijan’

While Armenians are dealing with the dispossession of Artsakh and trying to cope with its tragic consequences, Azerbaijan is escalating its demands by launching a campaign claiming that the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia is supposedly ‘Western Azerbaijan.’ No sensible person in the world would take such an outrageous lie seriously, simply because Azerbaijan was founded a little over a century ago, while Armenia has been in existence for thousands of years. Even Coca Cola is older than Azerbaijan!

After establishing the ‘Western Azerbaijan Committee’ with the blessing of Pres. Aliyev, Azerbaijan has embarked on a worldwide campaign to disseminate its ridiculous scheme around the world and at the United Nations. Those Armenians who are concerned about Azerbaijan’s expansionist plans over the Syunik province of Armenia or the so-called Zangezur Corridor should be more alarmed about Azerbaijan’s enormous appetite to take over all of the Republic of Armenia, after occupying Artsakh.

Here are four actions Azerbaijan has taken at the UN in recent months:

1) Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the UN Yashar Aliyev circulated to all members of the General Assembly and Security Council a letter by the ‘Western Azerbaijan Committee’ on January 17, 2023, stating that “All Azerbaijanis expelled from the territory of nowadays Armenia and their descendants have the right to return to their homeland.”

2) A second letter was submitted by Azerbaijan to the UN on February 22, 2023, accusing Armenians of carrying out acts of “violence, genocide, massacres and other crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights. This process was particularly violent and cruel in 1905–1906, 1918–1921, 1948–1953 and 1987–1991.” The letter added that “in nowadays Armenia, Azerbaijani historical and cultural heritage, including mosques and graveyards, were massively destroyed, toponyms were changed and systematic racial discrimination was carried out against Azerbaijanis.”

Moreover, Azerbaijan demanded that the UN take the following steps for the settlement of Azerbaijanis in Armenia:

“− Obtaining a legally binding international agreement with appropriate verification and guarantee mechanisms ensuring the voluntary return of Azerbaijanis expelled from the territory of nowadays Armenia to their homeland in safety and dignity;

− Securing the return process with appropriate security, humanitarian and socio-economic assistance programs;

− Establishing international monitoring, accountability, security, intervention and other necessary activities to prevent the recurrence of expulsion, discrimination and harm to the returned population;

− Ensuring sustainable rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees through the implementation of reconstruction and reconciliation measures under international supervision.”

Azerbaijan’s UN Ambassador demanded that Azeris who return to Armenia “have unimpeded communication with the Republic of Azerbaijan.” This is a very alarming suggestion which means that the Republic of Azerbaijan wants to have a road under its control within the territory of Armenia. The letter added that Azeris returning to Armenia should not be dispersed throughout the country, but kept together as a group and their safety and rights ensured. Even more alarming is the demand that Azeris be able to “use the Azerbaijani language in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the [Armenian] Government.” Azerbaijan added the following ridiculous demand: “Azerbaijanis shall be entitled to form local security forces and take an appropriate role in courts” of Armenia. This actually means that Armenia will be an appendix to Azerbaijan rather than a sovereign republic.

Furthermore, to ensure the safety of Azeris returning to Armenia, Azerbaijan “considers it necessary to deploy an international security mission with an appropriate mandate and comprising the forces of countries trusted by Western Azerbaijanis in the areas to which they will be returning.” In other words, Azerbaijan wants to station foreign troops on Armenia’s territory, which is completely unacceptable. Azerbaijan also stated that “The Government of Armenia shall ensure the return of property and community lands belonging to Azerbaijanis and pay compensation for property damage and losses caused by preventing the use of property.” Those who make such insane demands are living in a make-believe world.

3) The ‘Western Azerbaijan Committee’ delivered a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in April 2023, requesting him “to send a special UN mission to Armenia for launching the process of safe and dignified return of Azerbaijanis expelled from this country.”

4) The ‘Western Azerbaijan Committee’ submitted a report in October 2023 to the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. According to the Azeri media, the UN Committee “demanded that Armenia address the issues raised by the Western Azerbaijan Committee.” If there is any truth in this claim, I hope that Armenia’s UN Representative responded to Azerbaijan’s allegations and exposed the Azeri lies.

This is the vindictive enemy that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan naively believes he can sign a ‘Peace Treaty’ with. This unnecessary ‘Peace Treaty’ will actually undermine Armenia’s interests. Azerbaijan is already demanding that the rights of “Azeris expelled from Armenia” be included in such a treaty, thus providing the ground for future aggression and occupation by Azerbaijan. The Azeri letter to the UN in fact includes such an alarming provision: “the [Azeri] Community will aspire to include the creation of conditions for the return of Western Azerbaijanis to their homeland as an obligation of Armenia in the peace treaty to be concluded between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

The only way to end this nonsense is for Armenia to stop the slippery slope of making endless concessions to Azerbaijan and reject all of its unacceptable demands.

December 7, 2023
Azeri Paper Attacks Sassounian for Saying that Azerbaijan Wastes billions on Lobbying

Last week, I was asked by Alpha News TV to comment on the U.S. Senate’s decision, by a unanimous vote of 100 to 0, to suspend for two years Pres. Joe Biden’s authority to waive Section 907 of the United States Freedom Support Act which prohibits providing assistance to Azerbaijan. Should the House of Representatives also approve this bill, it would then go to the President for his signature which would make it a law. Since 1992, all U.S. presidents, including Pres. Biden in the last two years, have waived Section 907, thus providing tens of millions of dollars of aid to Azerbaijan.

The Senate’s decision angered Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry which described it as a blow to Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and cancelled its participation in the planned Washington talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries on Nov. 20.

During my interview with Alpha News, I stated that not a single U.S. Senator objected to the anti-Azerbaijan bill, despite Azerbaijan hiring multiple large lobbying firms to defend its interests in Washington. This means that Azerbaijan has wasted tens of millions of dollars in the last two decades paying for these useless lobbying firms. I would like to add that the person directly responsible for overseeing the work of these lobbying firms is Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Washington, Khazar Ibrahim. Therefore, any government that becomes aware of the waste of such large amounts of money would immediately fire its Ambassador. If Pres. Aliyev does not dismiss Amb. Ibrahim, then he himself would be just as responsible for the waste of millions of dollars on worthless lobbying firms which have not been able to convince a single Senator out of 100 to vote in favor of Azerbaijan’s interests.

Within days of my interview with Alpha News, Azerbaijan’s first English language newspaper, AzerNews, published a lengthy article titled, “Bribing congressmen, Armenian lobby poses threat to future of Yerevan,” attacking me personally for saying that Azerbaijan has wasted millions of dollars on lobbying. This is what shameless people do when they accuse others of doing things they are guilty of.

The whole world knows about Azerbaijan’s notorious Caviar Diplomacy and Azerbaijani Laundromat, bribing politicians throughout Europe with billions of dollars to cast votes in favor of Azerbaijan in order to whitewash Azerbaijan’s severe human rights violations and its fraudulent presidential elections.

Shamelessly, AzerNews falsely states that “Armenia’s lobby organizations abroad, pour millions or perhaps billions into the pockets of congressmen, of course, baseless and biased opinions against Azerbaijan will be voiced from the West.”

There are several grave errors in the above sentence. First of all, the Armenian government has not hired a single U.S. lobbying firm simply because it does not have the huge amount of petrodollars that Azerbaijan has which it wastes on lobbying firms in Washington, instead of taking care of its poor people at home. Secondly, Armenian-American organizations do not have millions, let alone billions of dollars to “pour into the pockets of congressmen.” Armenian-Americans do not need to bribe anyone. When your cause is just, you do not need to pay bribes to convince anyone of the truth. Only when you commit massive crimes, as Azerbaijan and Turkey repeatedly do, you need to spend millions and billions of dollars to cover up your crimes.

AzerNews went on to incriminate Azerbaijan, saying that Baku “is not only interested in participating in this auction of finding partnerships that Armenia is lavishly doing now.” Even though the sentence is not grammatically correct, the Azeri writer seems to admit that Azerbaijan is eager to bribe foreign officials. This is a useless statement since Azerbaijan has been bribing foreign officials for years.

Azerbaijan should be the last country in the world to cast aspersions on Armenia or any other country, since Baku is led by a dictator who jails journalists and human rights activists, and his soldiers commit the ugliest war crimes, such as rapes and beheadings. Azerbaijan invaded Artsakh and committed genocide against its Armenian population. Furthermore, Ramil Safarov, an Azeri soldier, during a NATO-sponsored training seminar in Hungary, chopped the head of a sleeping Armenian soldier with an axe. After Pres. Aliyev bribed the Hungarian government to release him from prison, he pardoned him and recognized him as a national hero.

I commend AzerNews for tracking all the way from Baku my interview in Glendale, California, and writing a baseless and false response. The writer of the article, Elnur Enveroglu, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of AzerNews, went to great lengths to find not only my TV interview, but also to translate it from Armenian into English.

November 22, 2023
NYC Mayor Attended 80 Events In 8 Years Related to Turkey

Three weeks ago, when I first wrote about FBI’s investigation of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign links to Turkey, I did not realize that this will be the opening of Pandora’s box.

Last week, Adams created a defense fund to raise money to pay the legal expenses for the expanding federal probe into his 2021 election campaign. The law permits Adams to receive donations up to $5,000. However, he must disclose the names and addresses of all donors.

According to the New York Post, “Federal authorities are investigating whether the Turkish government or Turkish citizens illegally funneled donations to Adams’ campaign by using ‘straw donors’ — a scheme where contributors listed in official records aren’t the actual source of funding — and whether Adams did quid-pro-quo favors.”

Multiple sources told the New York Post: “the Adams administration staffer who was found to have allegedly ‘acted improperly’ amid the federal corruption probe into his campaign fundraising worked in the city’s Office for International Affairs before abruptly being placed on leave.” The Mayor’s office confirmed the information.

That person is Rana Abbasova who was the Mayor’s Director of Protocol. Originally from Azerbaijan, she performed advanced planning and logistics for mayoral events and traveled with him. Her annual salary is $80,651. The Post was told that she lied to federal investigators.

Abbasova previously served as community coordinator and advisor to Adams when he was Brooklyn borough President. Her biography states that: “She was responsible for international relations and maintaining relationships between the Borough President and stakeholders, including the Middle East and Central Asian countries, Muslim and Russian-speaking communities, and Non-profit organizations. She also worked with Embassies and Consulates to build relationships between countries and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President to help overcome language barriers and cultural differences. She also organized Turkic Heritage events and assisted with Sister Cities agreements. Abbasova was also an administrative assistant for Adams’ One Brooklyn Fund, Inc. when he was still borough President.”

The City news website reported that in April 2017, Abbasova arranged a meeting between borough President Adams and the Turken Foundation, founded by Pres. Erdogan’s son, Bilal. Three of Turken’s board members contributed a total of $6,000 to the Mayor’s campaign. His schedule shows that he attended four Turken events. Turken is registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice.

Abbasova arranged for Adams at least three “meetings and events related to Turkey when he was borough president, a review of his schedule shows. Among them was a 2015 grand opening celebration for a Turkish restaurant in Brooklyn, which she marked as ‘important.’”

POLITICO reported that as Brooklyn borough President, Adams “attended nearly 80 events over eight years celebrating Turkey — including a flag-raising in 2015, a charity ball in 2018 and a Zoom meeting with the Turkish consul in 2020.”

After reviewing thousands of Adams’ public schedules and many social media posts, POLITICO revealed his “unusually strong relationship with Turkey, which has drawn scrutiny from federal investigators.” In 2019, as Adams “was embarking on a run for New York City mayor, he joined Martha Stewart at a gala celebrating Turkish Airlines — a company now caught up in an ongoing FBI probe into Adams’ campaign finances. At the event, Adams was photographed holding hands with two company officials over a sheet cake; after winning the mayor’s race, he appointed one of those officials — Cenk Ocal — to his transition team.” The CNN reported that on Nov. 2, the home of a Turkish Airlines executive was among the locations raided by the FBI.

POLITICO’s analysis of Adams’ Brooklyn Borough schedules turned up three mentions of the Turkish airlines: Two planned banquets celebrating the carrier in 2019 and 2020, and a cryptic entry on Oct. 2, 2015 that simply read: “Reschedule 4 p.m. Turkish airline. Rana [Abbasova] my gifts.”

Daniel Nigro, then New York City Fire Commissioner, was pressured by Adams to permit, despite safety concerns, the opening of a high-rise building that housed the Turkish consulate, just in time for the arrival of Pres. Erdogan. Nigro received a grand jury subpoena and spoke to FBI agents.

After becoming Mayor last year, Adams made virtual remarks at a real estate conference in Istanbul, which was attended by two top city officials. However, the Mayor’s participation was left out of his daily public schedule and not reported.

In addition to the home of the fundraiser for the Mayor’s campaign, the FBI raided or conducted interviews at a dozen locations as part of its investigations of campaign contributions from Turkish sources, CNN reported.

In 2022, “Adams took two trips to Turkey — one in August funded by multiple entities including the Turkish consulate, according to a financial disclosure obtained by POLITICO. Local news outlet THE CITY recently reported Turkish Airlines also chipped in for that trip, but that was omitted from the required annual disclosure. Four months later, the financial disclosure shows, an organization called the Association of Young Tourism Leaders funded another trip to Turkey for Adams. The junkets were among a half-dozen trips the mayor has said he made to the country, including a 2017 sojourn with his son, Jordan,” according to POLITICO.

While visiting Turkey as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams said that he was interested in buying a house in Istanbul, according to the Turkish Sabah newspaper. Adams also said that he is so satisfied with Turkish Airlines that he not only uses that carrier to fly to Turkey, but also to other parts of the world, like India.

November 21, 2023
After Scrutinizing NYC Mayor’s Campaign, FBI is Delving into his Links to Turkey

The FBI has now expanded its investigation of the alleged illegal fundraising links between New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign and Turkish officials and individuals.

I reported last week that the FBI had raided the home of the Mayor’s campaign fundraiser, seizing three iPhones, two computers and various files. Boyd Johnson, an attorney retained by Adams, said that after the raid, “it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly.”

Since then, the FBI unexpectedly stopped the Mayor in the street and took his two cellphones and iPad, after obtaining a search warrant from the court. The FBI copied the contents of his electronic devices and returned them to the Mayor. Adams cancelled a planned trip to Puerto Rico to attend an important political conference.

There are three significant aspects to this latest development:

1)    The Federal Government is getting closer to investigating the personal links between the Mayor and Turkish officials and individuals who may have made illegal contributions to his political campaign.

2)    In order to obtain a search warrant from the court, the FBI had to present to the judge credible evidence of possible wrongdoing by the Mayor or his campaign. A similar warrant was obtained from court before searching the home of the Mayor’s fundraiser last week.

3)    The reason the Mayor was unexpectedly stopped in the street to take his electronic devices was to prevent him from having the opportunity to delete or alter information on his devices.

The New York Times reported on Nov. 12, 2023, that the FBI is “examining whether Adams cleared Red Tape for the Turkish government.” According to the news report, “after winning the 2021 Democratic Mayoral primary, Eric Adams successfully pressed [New York] city officials to allow the opening of a Manhattan high-rise building housing the Turkish Consulate.”

The New York Times revealed that “the Federal authorities are investigating whether Mayor Eric Adams weeks before his election two years ago, pressured New York Fire Department officials to sign off on the Turkish government’s new high-rise consulate in Manhattan despite safety concerns with the building, three people with knowledge of the matter said.”

The New York Times added: “After winning the Democratic mayoral primary in July, Adams contacted then-Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro in late summer 2021 and urged him to allow the Turkish government to occupy the building at least on a temporary basis. The building had yet to open because fire officials had cited safety issues and declined to sign off on its occupancy, the people said…. The building is still operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy, records show.”

The Mayor’s intervention made it possible for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “to preside over the grand opening of the $300 million, 35-story tower on his September 2021 visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, despite numerous flaws in its fire safety system, according to the people familiar with the matter and city records,” according to The New York Times.

“The federal criminal inquiry has focused at least in part on whether Adams’ 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government, including its consulate general in New York, to illegally funnel foreign money into its coffers, according to a search warrant obtained by The New York Times for an F.B.I. search this month of the home of the mayor’s chief fund-raiser…. Adams’ ties to the Turkish government and community stretch back years. As Brooklyn borough president, he actively wooed wealthy members of the Turkish community in south Brooklyn. In August 2015, the Turkish consulate in New York paid for Adams’ airfare, hotel and ground transportation for a trip to Turkey, according to financial disclosure records. There, Adams signed a sister-city agreement with Istanbul’s Uskudar municipality, one of several he executed with foreign cities he traveled to as borough president. He also visited Bahcesehir University, founded by the same Turkish philanthropist who founded Bay Atlantic University in Washington, D.C.,” The New York Times reported.

Furthermore, the FBI is investigating “the role of KSK Construction, a Brooklyn building company owned by Turkish immigrants that organized a fund-raising event for Adams on May 7, 2021. On that day, 48 donors, including the company’s owners, employees and their families, along with others in the construction and real estate industries, donated $43,600, Adams’ campaign reports show. Those contributions enabled him to obtain another $48,000 in public matching funds for a total of nearly $92,000,” according to The New York Times.

Three American members of the board of the Turken Foundation, which was founded by Bilal Erdogan, the son of President Erdogan, donated $6,000 to Adams’ campaign between 2018 and 2021, according to The City website. The foundation is registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Oddly, Eric Adams, then-Brooklyn borough president, played himself in a 2017 Turkish romantic comedy film, ‘Fairytale of New York,’ where two Turkish men ask him for political favors but he says he can’t understand them. Adams tells the Turks in the film: “Brooklyn loves Turkey. Brooklyn is the Istanbul of America. We love your food, we love your music, but I don’t understand Turkish, we can take a selfie though.”

November 13, 2023